Safety appliance.



2 sums-sum 1.

Patented Sept. 28

SAFETY APPLIANCE. APPLICATION IILBD 1530. 31. 1906.

Q. T. HOWARD 6: W. M. STARK.

Q. T. HOWARD & W. M, STARK.

SAFETY APPLIANCE. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 31, 1906.

Pa tented Sept. 28, 1909] 2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

M M n W n 1 an improved means for automaticall To all whom ii m l y cows" 1 Be it known that We, @iiixoi' T. HOWARD and SVILLIAM M. STARK, citizens of the United States, residing atiiiuscaiiiie, in i'iie county of Iifiuacaiine and State of Iowa,

have invenied cer-iain new and usefui'impifovemenis in Sa'feiy Apoiiances, of which the foilowing is a specification, reference being had therein to the aocor'opanying drawing.

This invention relates to improvements in eieciiical safety appiiances for steam and other railways.

One object of M c im-efaij ion is to pro icie piymg iiie a11- bTHiQS upon two trains which are approaching each other on the same track, when they come Wiihin a precio'iermined distance m i101, iihus senioviiig the danger of e. .-a(.i-on oi roar-e115 ooiiisions.

Further o; invention, as

by means objects cameo, Wiii clear by an tion of the conncc iion ings, in which,

Figure 1 is a o I .1 L f SPGClilCiLUOD, {alien in accompany, a drawresenting a iailway' locomot ves equippeci safety appliances; Fig.

side eicvatioii of mg; the piefei', oi the a: 2 mgcmeziit of the.

on: i Y

mp the ziiiii i; a part T382}? i.

iiiei'eii z bil g; at View showi i (be c of which gii trio circuits and open or rams to amp trains, i (files, tossing gates and iiie like; i 8 is a YQZtiQili section on the piano iniicai'eai the line 8-8 in Fig. 7.

In tho practice of our invention, we equip the raiiway irack with two electrical con (iUCiiOIS 1, These coiifluctors preferably arranged between the track rails 3, as shown. They may be of any suitable form and construction and are adapted to be engaged o contact devices 4, 5, carried vby each of the locomotives or ofzher vehicles (3 if deslredn adapted to travel. over the track.

"the conductor rails 1, :2 may extend contima.

GLlSifl "from end to end of it ie track, but we preferabiy provide them only at i vitciies,

crossings, curves, and other ciaiig'eroiis pieces. For convenience, We will ierm the comiuctor: the right conductor i anci the coiifiactor 2, the left conductor Yviii aiso 56BX71 "the devices 4, 5, respectiveiy, the rightand left Contact or iroiley wioceis. These cievices be of any suitable form and constracaion, but We =preferabiy employ Wheels aiap'ted to run upon the rails l, 2 and joiii'naicd for rotation in the endof hangers Y pivo'i'aily incim"eci, preferably upon "(he are suitably insuiaied from and the frame of the iocoaiotive C i are Acid in contact with the conductor 811$ by springs 9, as will be readily seen upon reference to Figs. 3-, 4 and 5 of the drawings. When our improved; ap aratus is used con eieciric carapr trains, t e cmrent is zen from ii ii is used Upon a steam miiwey, as herein shown, the current is supplied by flynamos 10, of which is carried by each of the iocomoiives 6 gireferabiy mounted upon top oomieoieiti to a.

13 may of any suitabie riiction, out Wc prcferabiy' aeatecl Vaives of the type Fig. 6 This valve has its "God with an aiijustaiiio ping the 18 the "Waive Sham an-e on 16 is aiso provided "-i nipple i to which is connect r oiiiei suitable alarm device The voices 1' aria Lied to be ooeneei by magnc cfiCu, of which has arm-Mare C0? iecied to he s'iem 18 of we valve which it adapted to actuate. he magi) etc 21, are eieciricaliy connected to the right and left contact devices 4, 5, as presently explained, and they are pro-i front 'cruck 8 of fihe iocomotive,

he troiiey WiPS, but when erably located, respectively upon the right and left hand sides of the i-nterior of the cab of the locomotive. Each of the locomotives is further equipped with a controlling switch lever 24; which is pivotally mounted at 25 and has a contact plate or arm 26 adapted to bealternately engaged with con Switches 29 and 30 are tact plates 27, 28. provided in the locomotive cab adjacent to the controlling lever 24 and are adapted to control the circuits through the right and left magnets 21, 22, as presently explained. The switch 30 which controls the left'magnet 22 is preferably connected to the lever 24 by a link 31 so that it will be simultaneously operated with the'same, as will be readily understood upon reference to Fig. 7. The

switches 29, 30 may be of any desired form and construction. Each of the locomotivescarries a resistance 32 which is included in. the circuit of the dynamo l0, and is preferably in the form of an adjustable rheostat. Signal lights 33, 3 1, are also provided upon the right and left hand sides of the interior of the locomotive cab and are connected respectively with the right and lefthand magnets 21, 22. These lights are preferably dif-.

ferent colored, so as to more readily distinguish them, the right hand one 33 being preferably white, and the left hand one 34 preferably red. A,

T he electrical connections of the above emunerated parts are the same on each locomotive and are clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. ()ne pole of the dynamo 10 is connected by a conductor 85 to the frame of the locomotive conventionally illustrated at $36. so that a current of electricity may liow from either of the track rails 3 through the wheels and frame of the locomotive and the conductdr 35. The other pole of the dynamo 10 is connected to the contact 26 of the lever 24 by a. conductor 37 in which the resistance 32 is lccated. 'lhe right'contact 27 of the switch 24 is connected by a conductor 38 to the right-contact wheel 4 and the left. contact 28 is connected by a conductor -35) to the left contact wheel 3. it will thus be seen that the dynamo 10 may be thrown into circuit with either of the contact wheels 4, .7 by shifting the contact 2(3 of the switch upon either of the contacts 27, 2b. "The right magnet 21 is connected by a conductor -'0 to the conductor wreck.

connected by a conductor to the conductor 39 which leads to the leftcontact wheel 5. The right hand or white signal light 33 is in a shunt circuit 16 between the conductors40, 11 and the left or red light 34 is in a shunt circuit 47 between the conductors 4:3,

By means of the above described apparatus two trains approaching each other on .the same track w1ll be auton'iatically stopped when they come within a predetermined distance of each other. 'Assuming two locomotives to be approaching each other headon, as shown in Fig. l, the circuits may be traced as follows: Starting from the positive pole of the dynamo 10 of the left hand locomotive 6, the cur-rent passes through the conductor 37, the resistance 32, the remaining part of the conductor 37 contacts 26, 27 of the switch 24, conductor 5S,- contact wheel l, and the contact rail 1. The latter becomes the left contact rail of the track be-',

ncath the other or right hand locomotive and the circuit through this locomotive is as follows: from the left conductor rail 1 through the left contact wheel 5, conductor 35), conductor 45, switch30, conductor 44.;

left magnet 22,-and red light- 34, conductor 43, locomotive frame 36 and track rails 3. From the latter the current passes up through the frame of the first locon'iotive, that is, the left hand one and then'up through the conductor 35 to the negative pole of the dynamo 10. Thus the left magnet 22 on the right hand locomotive is energized so as to attract its armature 23 and open the valve 13 so that the air brakes'on that train will be applied and at the same time the signal whistle 20 will be sounded and the red lamp 234 lighted.

Simultaneous with theopcration of the left magnet 22 on the right hand train, the right magnet 21 on the left hand train will be energized in the following manner: The

current leaving the dynamo 10 is preferably of about 220 volts and after passing through the resistance 32 is reduced to about .30 volts. which latter is the voltage in the con- (litt'tflt 38. lleuce the current for the dynamo It; in passing through the shunt. "ircuii' in which the magnet 21 is included energizes the latter and thus the valve 12 is opened. This shunt circuit. is as follows: the couductor 40, the magnet 21 and white light 23?),

conductor 41, switch 29 and conductor 42 to conductor 38.. In this way both of the approaching trains will be simultaneously stopped. The engineer on the left hand train by opening'the switch 29 may throw out of circuit the right magnet 21 and'close the valve 12 so that he may advance-slowly and determine the'cause of the stoppage of his train without danger of a collisioirr-r Should one tram he overtaking another and come within a |ncclct 1'n1iiii-l distance of it, both trains will be similarly stopped. The engineer by shifting the contact 2i ofthe switch 2%- i'i'om the right contact to the left contact 528 of said switch may send a current through the leftcontact from the rear,

Since hoth of the locomotives are equipped. with the same apparatus each one will affect the other in the same ay When they approach each, other head on, provided the switches 2d are in their normal positions. Should the apparatus upon one of the locomotives be out of Working order only tWo of the magnets will be energized.

'l hile We have shown and described the preferred embodiment of our invention, \ve wish it understood that We do not limit ourselves to the precise showing herein set forth and that various changes inthe form, and

rail 2 and thus stop a train approaching him arrangement of the parts and the electrical Cry connections may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, as def ned by the appended claims.

Having thus described ouriinvention what we claim as new and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States is l. In a railway safety apparatus of the character described, the combination with a track and electrical conductors arranged along the same, of a vehicle totravel over said track, electrical. contact devices carried by said vehicle for engagement with said conductors, means for controlling the brake system of said vehicle, electrolnagnets for actuating said brake system controlling means, a source of electric currentsupply, a resistance, a switch, an electric circuit including said source of electric current supply, said resistance, said switch, one of said contact devices, and the frame of said vehicle, a shunt circuit connected to the first-mentioned circuit on opposite sides of said resistance and including one of said electromagnets, and another circuit includ ing the other of said electromagnets, the other of said contact devices, said switchand the frame of said vehicle, substantially as set forth. v

2. In a railway safety apparatus ofthe character; described, the combination With a track and electrical conductors arranged.

along the same, of a vehicle to travel over said track, electrical contactd'evices carried by said vehicle for engagement With said conductors, means for controlling the brake system of said vehicle, electromagnets for actuating said brake system controlling means, a source of electric'current supply,"

a resistance, a switch, an electric circuit in cluding said source of. electric current sunply, said resistance, said switch, one of a contact devices, and the frame of said ve i-f cle, a shunt circuit connected to the firstinentioned circuit on the opposite side of said resistance and including one of said electromagnets, another circuit. including the other of said electi'i'nnagnets, the other of said contact, dc s, said switch and the frame of said vehicle, and switches, interposed in the last-mentioned circuit and said shunt circuit, substantially as set forth.

3. in a railway safy apparatus of the character described, the combination with a track and electrical coni'liuttors arranged along the same, of a vehicle to travel over. said tracl ,'elect1'ical contact devices carried by said'vehicle for engagement with said conductors, means for controllhig the brake system of said vehicle, clectroinagnets foractuatiug said brake s means, a source of electri current supply, a resistance. a switch, anelectric circuit includingsaid source of elec ric current sup- ;ily'i said res i ance, said switch, onc'of said of said vecontact deviccs,and the frame hicle, shunt circuit connected to the firstmentioned circuit 'on the opposite side of said resistance andincludingonc of said electi'onia-gnets, another circuit including one of said electroniagnets, the other of said cont-act devices, said swltch and the frame'of said vehicle, cut-out switches] 1n stem, controlling cluded in the lastanentioned circuit and saidshunt circuit, and an operative connection between one of the lastn'ient-ioned switches and the lll'SlLflfilQllllOHQtl switch.

In a railway safety apparatus of'the said magnets, saidswitch, one of said contact devices and the frame of said vehicle,

and electrical connections between the other of'said magnets, said switch, the other of said contact devices, and the frame of said vehicle, substantially set forth.

5. Ina railway mafety apparatus of the character described, the combination with a track and electrical conductors arranged along the same, of a vehicle totravel over [said track, electrical contact devices carried by said vehicle for engagement with said conductors, valves for controlling the airbralte system of said'vehicle, electromagnets I fOI'flQtHtZt-llig said valves, source of electric current supply carried by said vehicle, a

controlling switch, a resistance, cut-out switches, elect-r1 l connections between saidsource of electric current supply, said resistanceone' of said magnets, said controlling switch, one of said cut-out switches, one

of said contact devices and the frame of said vehicle, and other electrical connections between the other of said magnets, the other of said cut; out switches, said controlling switch, the other of said contact devices and the frame of said vehicle, substantially as set forth. I

(3. In a railway safety apparatus ofthe character described, the combination with a track and electrical conductors arranged along the same, of a vehicle to travel over said track, electrical contact devices carried by said vehicle for engagement with said comluctors, exhaust valves for controlling the air-brake system of said vehicle, signal whistles connected to the outlets of said valves, electromagnets for actuating said valves, signal lights, a dynaint rcarried by said vehicle, a resistance, a controlling switch having; a contact for alternate engagement with two other contacts, electrical comm-lions between the latter and said contact. devices, electrical connections between the other contactot' said [controlling switch,

QUINCY T. l-lOlVAltll I \VILLIAM ItlaS'litltK.

Vitnesses i l T. Farrow, I). (7-. l)l'\'. 

